The Hunger Games - The Awakening
by capturedrose
Summary: It's been 8 years since the Rebellion ended Snow's reign and the people of Panem have lived in relative peace since. However there is trouble on the horizon, the Capitol people aren't happy about what they consider to be their downfall and are looking to change it back. Will people stand up for the Panem that they fought so hard for? Will they be ready for The Awakening?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One - Gale**

"What the hell?" Gale said to himself as he looked at the transcript for the upcoming news section he was about to report on. He lifted his head and stared out of the window trying to keep his thoughts and actions measured. Controlling his temper was his biggest weakness. He flicked his eyes away from the window and towards the office door, he had been in there a few times after he had lost it on air, said things he shouldn't have and had therefore suffered the consequences. No doubt she had seen it, she seemed to see all of his failings. He tapped his hand lightly on the desk as he once again looked at the script. He was lucky to have this job, lucky to be alive and breathing. Though he often had a clear train of thought, his abrupt nature had often got in the way of making the right decision. This had already cost him his happiness and Gale wasn't going to allow it to also cost him his job.

Working as a district 4 news anchor had given Gale a life he could never have dreamed of back when he was in district 12 hunting illegally and working in the mines. Since the uprising he had been living in comfort. He had money now, money to buy food whenever he wanted and as much of it as he liked. He had running water and excellent sanitation facilities. Two things he didn't have in district 12. He also had his own apartment looking over the reformed district with enough entertainment facilities in it to keep an entire group of people occupied. Yet, he wasn't happy. Some days he would give anything to be sitting back in the forest of district 12, eating whatever berries Katniss had found on the hunt and sharing their catch of the day. He missed her. She had been his friend his whole life, and suddenly she was gone. She'd left his life as quickly as she had entered it. He'd lost his way in the uprising and consequently lost her too.

He dropped his head into his hands and forcefully rubbed his eyes, hoping to scrub away the memories of his life before. He lifted his head back up and grabbed the script, reading once again what the headline was and wishing he didn't have to do this story. He felt like they were testing him, testing his nature and seeing if he would screw up again. Well he wouldn't, he was going to read the story without any improvisation from him. He hoped Katniss would be watching, the story did involve her after all.

The alarm startled him from his thoughts and he stood slowly, stretching his body wide to try and welcome in some confidence and optimism. He grabbed his water bottle and made his way to the studio. As he walked in, he noticed that there were a lot more people than usual in the room. Gale sat at the news desk, his papers in front of him just in case the autocue didn't work. He wouldn't mess this one up. He started to read through the story one more time, he always did this in the 10 minutes before going on air, it gave him more confidence. A tapping on the desk jolted him from his reading and he looked up into the face of his producer, Tally. "Look Gale, we know this is a hard story for you to read out, but we felt it was best coming from someone that knew him, okay?" She looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to thank her for this uncomfortable situation she had put him in. "Erm, yeah its fine. It's all under control." He looked back down at his papers, hoping she'd get the signal that he wanted her to leave him alone now. "Okay then, so you're fine with it. Excellent." Tally beamed at him before walking off towards the control room, winking at one of the camera men as she passed him.

"Right Gale, we start in 5 okay? I'll do my normal finger countdown before the chime goes and you need to start reading. Is that alright?" His personal director, Trixie, looked at him anxiously. She was the closest thing he had to a relative. She was the sister he had never had. They looked out for each other and it was great to have someone like her so close by on occasions like this when he needed all of the support he could get. "That's fine Trix, I know the drill." He smiled directly at her and winked. He wanted to reassure her as much as she was trying to reassure him. Her face relaxed from its previous tense position and she raised her hand in anticipation for the countdown. She nodded at him and started the countdown, he looked up at the camera and as the chime sounded, he started to read. "Good evening, and welcome to the District Four evening news. Today marks the 8th anniversary of the rebellion that saw many routines and traditions come to an end. One such tradition was the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games itself took the innocent lives of many children, including those of the Capitol whose hands eagerly awaited the bombs issued by President Coin to finish the rebellion once and for all and end the reign of terror that Snow had created…" Gale tailed off. Trix looked panicked as she realised what was happening and quickly signalled to go to one of the reporters standing outside of the Presidents house.

Gale took deep breaths, trying to steady himself and stay on track but it was impossible now. He suddenly realised why everyone was here, watching. They knew. They had all known what was going to happen and no one had warned him, not even Trixie. He could feel the sweat seeping through his shirt and his breathing wouldn't slow. He got up to leave, pushing past the cameras to reach the door. He broke through and ran downstairs towards the ground floor, he needed air. He stumbled through the gates at reception and through the front door and then ran. He didn't know where he was going. He just knew he couldn't be here, not with Katniss in the same building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Katniss**

She should have known he wouldn't stay. He'd never been good at confrontation, ever since she'd known him he'd always had more flight in him than fight. That was until the rebellion, he'd found all of the fight for that and more. Katniss had finally come to terms with everything that had happened to her. Peeta had made sure of that. The arrival of Rose into their lives had changed her, and him, for the better. The world they had brought their daughter into wasn't the same fearful one it had once been. Since the population in district 12 had been wiped out by the callous bombings Snow had ordered, it had been slowly rebuilding since the rebellion had ended. For this she was thankful. People seemed to enjoy the tranquility, especially those traumatised in the rebellion. The community felt safe and full of promise, she had hoped that her mother would move back one day but it held too many memories of Prim.

Katniss walked down the same stairs that Gale had just fled through, she had hoped to catch up with him. Now that she was thinking more clearly, she wanted closure on the situation. And she'd never get that holed up in district 12. She walked through reception and flashed the security guard her visitors badge as she passed through the barriers on her way out. "Ms Katniss, if you're looking for Gale, he ran that way." The guard looked straight at her and pointed left out of the doors. "Thankyou" she flashed the guard a brief smile and then walked left out of the building. There was a question that still haunted her and she needed to be sure once and for all, was she still in love with Gale? Had she made the right decision? Only seeing him could answer that one.

The light danced slowly across the water as Katniss walked around it, reflecting off onto the glass buildings that surrounded the man-made body of water. District 4 has become the main hub of finance since the rebellion and with finance comes money. The buildings that were destroyed in the rebellion had all been replaced with fancy, high rise office buildings made completely of reflective glass. It projected the wealth that the finance companies wanted to represent them, something which hadn't been allowed to happen under Snow's reign. With democracy came the freedom to create your own opportunities and people with money had grabbed these opportunities with both hands, creating businesses everywhere. Although the previous system had been flawed, this system in a lot of ways was worse. Dictatorship squashed creativity and fairness under Snow's reign but under a President like paylor, it could have flourished creating equal opportunities for everyone. Unfortunately, this natural progression of private ownership had kept the rich, rich and the poor, poor. This was something that none of the rebels, or Paylor, had intended.

Katniss kept scanning the area, hoping to see Gale so that she could speak to him. Or attempt to speak to him at least. She hadn't quite forgiven him yet for what happened. She had accepted that the way Prim died wasn't entirely his fault, but the idea that he created the weaponry that lead to her death was something that she would never be able to see past. This was the reason they had stopped speaking in the first place, the reason they had lost touch, and the reason why they might never be friends again. But she had to try. Because despite all of this, she missed him and she knew he missed her. She missed their life in District 12, despite its difficulties, in her mind it now seemed like a much simpler time. However, she couldn't dwell on that. She was proud of the Hunger Game free life they had fought for, future generations would be free of the burden of it. And she could never wish to take that back.

She stopped for a second to gather her thoughts. Did she want to find him? How had he ended up here anyway? When the rebellion was over and she had been sent back to 12 with Haymitch, Gale had got a job with the government in District 2, presumably working on security or something else related. And now he was working on the news in District 4. Something didn't add up and she wanted to find out what it was. She wanted to know why Gale had been transferred to 4 and also what he'd done to deserve it. Something moved in her peripheral vision. She turned to look and realised there was a figure slumped against one of the glass buildings just around the side of the water. Without looking properly, Katniss knew it was Gale. She'd studied his profile for years before the Games had taken her away from him and still she knew his mannerisms anywhere.

He didn't look up as he approached. He just kept staring out at the water. Katniss sat down next to him, not too close that they were touching but close enough to giver her flashbacks of sitting in the forest with him in 12. Back to that day when they wanted to run from everything but couldn't because they both had responsibilities at home. Half an hour passed before either of them spoke, neither of them wanting to break the comfortable silence they had once been so accustomed to. As the darkness descended and the building started reflecting the light from the moon, Gale finally glanced at Katniss's face. She turned to him and they just looked at each other. With a half smile and a sigh Gale said "It's been a long time Katniss." She smiled at him again and turned away, a single tear sliding down her face. She wasn't as hard as she had once been. Peeta had allowed her to show her emotions and she wasn't so scared of them appearing weak anymore. "I miss you Gale, despite everything." Gale stared up at the sky and stood suddenly, surprising Katniss. "Let's go get a drink, catch up. That's why you're here isn't it?" Gale said this with such finality, she was unable to refuse. She stood slowly, allowing herself time to take everything in and realise what she was doing. "Let's go" She walked on without looking at him. She needed answers and so did he.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Effie**

Examining herself in the mirror, she turned slightly to try and see what she looked like from behind. This wasn't the life she had been accustomed to and Effie wasn't too sure how much she was enjoying it. There were no more stylists in your house that you could demand help change you and pick out what you should be wearing for the day. She had stylists when she presented on Good Morning Panem, but only of the show and after that they went again. Leaving her to fend for herself in her daily fashion needs.

Living in the Capitol used to be the ultimate privilege. Everything you could ever want or need was yours. People residing in the Capitol were treated like the chosen ones but once the rebellion had happened, that had all ended. They were now treated exactly the same as everyone else in Panem. No more fancy luxuries bestowed upon you purely for being alive, no more parties where there was so much food you had to drink to throw up so that you could eat more and no more exceptions from the harder tasks that needed to be done in order to function in society. It was all for one and one for all these days, and it was difficult to go from being the people who were once envied to the people who were now pitied.

Whilst Effie didn't find the transition as difficult, due to living in District 13 for a while during the rebellion, others were finding it increasingly demanding and hard to live. But rather than backing down and trying to muck in with the rest of Panem, they were getting more and more frustrated with their situation. Effie thought about what Katniss had said about her conversation with Plutarch before she was sent back to 12 after the rebellion. She had said "Humans are fickle, Plutarch doesn't think this will be the end. He thinks there will be another war in the future." Effie hadn't wanted to believe it, but with the rumours coming through from her friends in the Capitol, it was looking like a very likely situation.

Effie picked up her bag and left the apartment, flicking her eyes towards the panel on the floor that scanned her eyes to lock the apartment. She was the only one that had access to the apartment, without her eye scan, there was no way of getting in. It had become of paramount importance to protect what you had. Since the Capitol had been opened to everyone in Panem, crime had risen despite Paylor's best attempts to slow it down. With the technology that they had, if you had the money you could pretty much buy anything. And Effie had invested.

She walked swiftly down the street, trying to avoid eye contact. People in the Capitol had always seemed very 'above it all' but at least people previously had been friendly to others in the Capitol. Now people only wanted to complain and then talk about ways they could overthrow everything to make it how it once was. The discontent and hatred was draining and Effie had more than once considered leaving the Capitol and moving to one of the districts just to live amongst people she felt she now had more in common with.

She reached the central station and presented her ticket at the office. She didn't have to join the queues that other people were in due to her fame within the city. Well known people still didn't travel in commercial cabins on the trains, more due to safety than anything else. Her visit today was purely for herself, it had been six months since she had visited Haymitch and she missed him regardless of how repugnant he could be. When she had been one of the rebels in the rebellion she had felt necessary, needed and despite her differences to the other rebels, she felt that she fit in. Moving back to the Capitol had been harder than she had thought it would be and she missed the people she had grown to love in the rebellion. The people she now felt she had much more in common with.

As she entered her cabin, Effie experienced a flashback to the day she boarded this very train to go to the reaping in District 12. That was the beginning of the end for Snow and the Capitol. Not that they knew it then. She looked out of the window as the train passed through Panem, trying not to revisit the events of 8 years ago. There was only so many times you could live through the past. It upset her and it was done now, there was nothing she could or would do to change that.

Effie poured herself some tea as she thought about her life. This always happened on trains. She would sit, look out of the window and just think. Something she didn't usually have time for in her everyday life, she always seemed to be busy but with what she wasn't sure. The train pushed on through the countryside, remnants of the time before Panem still littering the landscape as they went by. She hoped to see Katniss when she was back in District 12, but she had heard from Haymitch that Peeta was currently on his own in the house and that Katniss had actually gone to District 4 to see Gale. Haymitch hadn't sounded too pleased about this plan and Effie was anxious to speak to Peeta and see how he felt. They were like family to her, and she felt the overwhelming need to make sure everything was okay.

The train stopped in District 8, a scheduled stop so she wasn't concerned. She leant over to get her mirror out of her bag, it was necessary to know how she looked at all times. Her parents had made sure that she knew how to present herself and she couldn't quite get out of the habit even though she did know that it didn't actually matter. If a hair was out of place, the world wasn't going to end. She laid the mirror back down the table and looked out of the window again as the train began to move. The door to her cabin opened and she glanced up, expecting a waiter to walk through. She immediately locked eyes with a man she most definitely wasn't expecting to see, the blood drained from her face as she continued to look at him and all at once she felt she needed someone else there for protection. It wasn't often that Effie felt unsafe but at this moment, she knew that she was. He sat down opposite her and said nothing. Just as she was about to get up and leave he spoke "So Effie, how have things been since you helped destroy my life?"


End file.
